Nathan Jones

[imadirtyurchin]

Shocking thing about this thread is seeing how united the forum is. 😂😭

I’d get rid tbh. I don’t think it bodes well that this was his first home game and there’s already an OUT thread. And it feels justified. They (SR) won’t though. 2 more losses and games like that in the next two games then they might. 

[Dman]

I feel for Jones a touch. He should never have been offered the job but that’s not his fault and I don’t blame him for taking it. 

This is all on SR. 

Left it way to long to sack Ralph, letting good candidates go to other clubs. Never signed a much needed striker, gambled on young and generally no better than we already had players. 

It was obviously a terrible appointment at the time and it’s shown in the flesh to be exactly that. 

[Billy the Kidd]

20 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

We were never going to do that though, that's why we should have just stuck imo. 

Or maybe, and im not saying this is correct, but perhaps the squad were so bad partly cos of Ralph, that all confidence has been lost in the team and it will take something special to sort out.

I dont buy into the fact of keeping Ralph, not at all, we were heading down, absolutely nosediving with him at the helm. And we may still do that, but perhaps the mistake was not sacking Ralph, it was a. Not doing it in the summer, and perhaps b. Appointing NJ. 

Time will tell.

[harvey]

9 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He wasn’t done, he was a point off safety, with a reasonable GD, without anything resembling a competent goal scorer. Get one of those in and we’d have stayed up.

Now though… we are hopeless, outclassed all over the park and will likely be spanked in most of our remaining games.

He was indeed and you appear to be the only person who could never comprehend it.....you were in denial.

[SotonianWill]

3 minutes ago, harvey said:

He was indeed and you appear to be the only person who could never comprehend it.....you were in denial.

tbf if Che Adams knew how to put the ball in the net from a plethora of easy chances Ralph would still be religiously followed like a messiah. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

7 minutes ago, Billy the Kidd said:

Or maybe, and im not saying this is correct, but perhaps the squad were so bad partly cos of Ralph, that all confidence has been lost in the team and it will take something special to sort out.

I dont buy into the fact of keeping Ralph, not at all, we were heading down, absolutely nosediving with him at the helm. And we may still do that, but perhaps the mistake was not sacking Ralph, it was a. Not doing it in the summer, and perhaps b. Appointing NJ. 

Time will tell.

I agree the squad could be that bad because of Ralph. If that was the case, SR needed to get in an experienced manager, who had top level experience in management. Having said that, if you go into that realm then you are looking at the likes of Dyche and Benentiz. But maybe on a short term deal it would have been a sensible move 

[imadirtyurchin]

I think the thing that struck me today. Forget the performance and result - Nathan Jones came across in his post match interview like he was in the middle of a 5 match losing streak. No confidence, defensive and fraught looking. It spoke volumes.

[Badger]

Just now, imadirtyurchin said:

I think the thing that struck me today. Forget the performance and result - Nathan Jones came across in his post match interview like he was in the middle of a 5 match losing streak. No confidence, defensive and fraught looking. It spoke volumes.

Is his interview available online ? 

[Wiggles31]

I would usually defend a manager but it’s very hard to after that showing. Tactically that was dreadful. Never seemed able to change the clear errors shown on the pitch. 
 

What is mental (!) is that we did not replace RH in the summer?! 

Edited 26 December, 2022 by Wiggles31

[Wade Garrett]

53 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

A lower league team could at least close down as a unit. Basic laziness where a player closes down the man with the ball but none of his mates bother with other players so he can pass it to whoever he wants.

I’ve said before what a lazy team we are.  Both in possession and out of it.

Brighton gave us a lesson in passing and moving today.  We were pedestrian and predictable.

[richard799]

Jones at the end of match patting Brighton players on the back, shaking their hands ignoring Saints players. Then trudging off with an assistant. Terrible display from manager I never wanted. Ian Branfoot take 2. 

[Saint-Reece]

To be honest I don’t think there is a manager out there (that we could conceivably get) that could get a tune out of the pathetic bunch of players we have that are our ‘squad’. 
 

Ralph over performed with these players and SR have fucked us with their gambling in the Summer. Evidenced by our over reliance on an 18 year old in Midfield, the fact we are STILL playing wastes of space including Moi and Djenepo… and it looks like we will be back with McCarthy between the sticks again when he is fit. 
 

On the players and the Board / Owners for me. 

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, stknowle said:

Reach out if you’re struggling Nat…

[Billy the Kidd]

22 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I agree the squad could be that bad because of Ralph. If that was the case, SR needed to get in an experienced manager, who had top level experience in management. Having said that, if you go into that realm then you are looking at the likes of Dyche and Benentiz. But maybe on a short term deal it would have been a sensible move 

Yeah I agree with that. I will hold judgement until the transfer window, they simply have to address the glaring obvious issues, and if they dont then we will very likely be relegated.

They just have to get quality business done early, easier said than done, but without it, were done I think.

[Miltonaggro]

16 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I’ve said before what a lazy team we are.  Both in possession and out of it.

Brighton gave us a lesson in passing and moving today.  We were pedestrian and predictable.

Shuddered when I saw the team sheet. Looked like he’d picked a side for one half of an early pre-season friendly. Nothing at stake. With such limited quality and experience leaving any of it on the bench is inept. 
 

Right now Sports Republic feels very much like the Lowe and Cowan regime and experience, a narcissistic closed group who believe their own hype - that ends in a dark place for the club that we follow. If I was Dragan I’d be getting twitchy.

[Pilchards]

54 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

You seem to know a few things around the club. Genuine question, but what was the thinking in getting Jones on? It just seems like the 90's all over again at the club, hire from the lower leagues in the hope of getting it right

Currently on a splendid cruise at the moment so I have no idea what’s going on.

To think we offered the job to Eddie Howe but Semmens pulled it because Ralph won two games and drew one. He thought we had turned a corner. Even some of our fans thought Howe was a big step back. Ha ha ha what a fuck up.

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Pamplemousse said:

Yup agree with this. Although after sacking Ralph we had a choice to get a decent manager from Europe in.

 

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

We were never going to do that though, that's why we should have just stuck imo. 

Why not is my question.

Ralph Hasenhuttl was "a top manager from Europe" and we recruited him during the oh-so-dreadful Gao era.

This is the forward thinking exciting Sports Republic era and we paid compensation out to get this fucking idiot in.

I was expecting a half decent manager from these supposed bloody visionaries.

[Roo1976]

2 hours ago, Killers Knee said:

Get rid whilst he is still under probation. Save some cash as well as some face.

and appoint who?.....................the players need to take responsibility aswell you know. Like my wife said they are the ones that have been playing this game for years ,its not the managers fault ,he can only guide them and try to improve the situation ,he cant do it all. But in reality ATM we are desperately poor. In the first half we hadn't got the foggiest idea of what set up or strategy we were supposed to be doing, and Brighton played through us. Ive tried to be objective in supporting the keeper but ,words fail me at the errors he did today, and i know its a young person squad thing but nearly every time they went in our box he looked like he didnt want to be there. 2nd goal was his fault aswell as the calamitous 1st. Proper well established goalies save the ball and dont try to push and flap the bloody thing out of so called danger all the time.  I can see the big boy taking over as of next game. Why cant we just play 4-4-2 . Football is supposed to be simple and quite frankly we just cant cope with all the formation changes that our manager wishes we could. We are so weak and powder puffs in the tackle easy to beat and we always seem to want to pass the buck and arm point the problem onto the next available space. look i could go on but whats the point at this moment it hurts and its very frustrating ,theres lots more i would like to write about but no ones on here to read all this they want quick sound bits and well ....................................

[woodsaint1]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

And this is why sacking Ralph was not the answer so many were proclaiming. He polished a turd for many years and we will probably not realise what we had until a few months have gone.

Still way too early for these sort of threads though, but it does have a whiff of 'try and be clever on the cheap' about it, like we tried with the likes of Mara and co in the summer.

People have some short memories. 4 wins in 30 games or whatever it was, yet sacking Ralph wasnt the answer. Dont be so stupid, he deserved to be sacked and about 99% of the support agreed with the  call. He was adding to the turd by the end of his tenure and was a broken man.

[Roger]

1 minute ago, woodsaint1 said:

People have some short memories. 4 wins in 30 games or whatever it was, yet sacking Ralph wasnt the answer. Dont be so stupid, he deserved to be sacked and about 99% of the support agreed with the  call. He was adding to the turd by the end of his tenure and was a broken man.

Jones has had 8 weeks which is a decent amount of time considering our predicament and that was worse than anything we’ve seen all season. 

[John Boy Saint]

1 hour ago, Wiggles31 said:

I would usually defend a manager but it’s very hard to after that showing. Tactically that was dreadful. Never seemed able to change the clear errors shown on the pitch. 
 

What is mental (!) is that we did not replace RH in the summer?! 

I don’t think we have enough substitutes we can make during a match to achieve that.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

Every manager has a shelf life and NJ's looks like it's going to be very short! What's happened to Ruben Selles and Carl Martin? At the start of the season, there was talk of Ralph starting to listen to them and act on their advice. Surely they must be able to give NJ some guidance. He's got that "I don't know what to do" face which is all I remember about Pellegrino.

[pimpin4rizeal]

59 minutes ago, Saint-Reece said:

 

Ralph over performed with these players 

Really ? Ralph was crap and we won about four games out of twenty something and have been absolutely awful for nearly two years under him.. this is pretty much Ralph’s team which he has presided over and installed the loser behaviour into ..

a lot of you still defended Ralph after 2 9-0 rapings and about two years of hideous form whilst also picking crap players for off the ball work.. and farming out More skillfull players

as I said before Jones wouldn’t of been my choice either but you can’t just expect him to come in and wave a magic wand and everything to be amazing all of a sudden. 

there was much more shocking performances under Ralph like the Leicester and Man Utd rapings yet people crying over a 3-1 loss to a really good Brighton side after bazunu gave away two goals!

give the guy a break 

[woodsaint1]

27 minutes ago, Roger said:

Jones has had 8 weeks which is a decent amount of time considering our predicament and that was worse than anything we’ve seen all season. 

Its all too predictable on here. Because hes not a well known ex-player or hasnt come from a foreign league, the knives were always going to be out for him after the first 1/2 bad performances.

Yes it was bad today, but we've had new managers have all summer (more than 8 weeks) and we've started new seasons very badly. Theres obviously zero patience on here given our position and the dire season to date, but to say he should go is laughable. He deserves a chance to form his own team and few windows to do so. If that means we're in the Championship then so be it. Hes inherited a weak squad low on confidence which could take a while to turnaround. Yes we all hoped for a much better start but the club (particularly given Ankersen's influence in appointing Jones) are not going to sack him and the supporters need to get behind him and the players (hopefully more than a few new ones in January). A toxic St Marys will around worsen the situation.

[verlaine1979]

It took Poch two games to give us an identity distinct from how we'd played under Adkins. That's what's so weird about the Jones appointment. His only reputation was for scrappy over-performance with the tools at hand. Not a sniff about him being a tactical innovator or someone with a particular footballing vision and intelligence.

And that's what this squad needs. Someone to literally re- teach them the basics of movement and passing, as they seem to have forgotten them completely. We play like statues waiting for the pass. Brighton on the other hand were constantly in motion, buzzing around making space for what were relatively simple passes.

[Pamplemousse]

1 minute ago, woodsaint1 said:

Its all too predictable on here. Because hes not a well known ex-player or hasnt come from a foreign league, the knives were always going to be out for him after the first 1/2 bad performances.

Yes it was bad today, but we've had new managers have all summer (more than 8 weeks) and we've started new seasons very badly. Theres obviously zero patience on here given our position and the dire season to date, but to say he should go is laughable. He deserves a chance to form his own team and few windows to do so. If that means we're in the Championship then so be it. Hes inherited a weak squad low on confidence which could take a while to turnaround. Yes we all hoped for a much better start but the club (particularly given Ankersen's influence in appointing Jones) are not going to sack him and the supporters need to get behind him and the players (hopefully more than a few new ones in January). A toxic St Marys will around worsen the situation.

Remember Ralph's first home game? It was clear then he had already had a positive impact in a short amount of time.

What has Jones actually brought to the table?

[verlaine1979]

Though on a related note, it's criminal how little athleticism, pace and power we've added to the squad over the past few years. This must be the weakest, smallest, slowest squad in the league. And it's not like any of them have great technique to compensate. Look at Elyounoussi - he's just mediocre across every characteristic.

[CB Fry]

48 minutes ago, Roger said:

Jones has had 8 weeks which is a decent amount of time considering our predicament and that was worse than anything we’ve seen all season. 

Jones being shit does not make sacking Ralph an incorrect call.

Jones can lose 10 games in a row and that won't change. Ralph's time was up.

Recruiting Jones was a easily predictable obvious mistake but that's a different argument.

[Suhari]

2 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

It took Poch two games to give us an identity distinct from how we'd played under Adkins. That's what's so weird about the Jones appointment. His only reputation was for scrappy over-performance with the tools at hand. Not a sniff about him being a tactical innovator or someone with a particular footballing vision and intelligence.

And that's what this squad needs. Someone to literally re- teach them the basics of movement and passing, as they seem to have forgotten them completely. We play like statues waiting for the pass. Brighton on the other hand were constantly in motion, buzzing around making space for what were relatively simple passes.

Just came here to mention Poch.

Took only one or two games and you could see it became 'his team', implementing his ideas. The same players, a fresh and exciting new approach.

We saw a jump in approach and attitude when RH joined too.

Can't help comparing that to now ...

[Convict Colony]

2 hours ago, Joey-deacons-left-nut said:

Sounds like a protest outside St Marys is needed... this needs nipping in the bud now.

[Convict Colony]

2 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Though on a related note, it's criminal how little athleticism, pace and power we've added to the squad over the past few years. This must be the weakest, smallest, slowest squad in the league. And it's not like any of them have great technique to compensate. Look at Elyounoussi - he's just mediocre across every characteristic.

To be honest Lavia has all those things but when you buy a F1 car they can break down easily.

[qwertyell]

Never wanted him. Nothing about the appointment or our supposed six month or so pursuit of him felt right. Lower league clogger who couldn't hack the step up to fucking Stoke.

Having seen his tactics up close now, there's nothing there. Just aimless long balls. We didn't complete 100 passes in the first half. As the home team. We got it, we hoofed it away. That was all we had.

£4m we spent on him and his staff for that shite. Could've had "Dave" from literally any pub team in the country to shout "get rid!" for 90 minutes, probably for a couple of bags of pork scratchings.

There's no hope here. The squad might be poor, but this chancer won't squeeze any extra out of it.

[verlaine1979]

Just now, Convict Colony said:

To be honest Lavia has all those things but when you buy a F1 car they can break down easily.

Yeah, I should've said, some of the kids we recruited this summer have a few of those qualities. But they should be garlanding a solid squad,not our last hope to stay up.

My mind goes back to our attempts to recruit Sangare. He's an absolute unit in midfield, with pace and power from what I've seen. How did Diallo end up as our back up after that transfer fell through? Did we suddenly decide we didn't need presence in the middle any more?

[CB Fry]

16 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Its all too predictable on here. Because hes not a well known ex-player or hasnt come from a foreign league, the knives were always going to be out for him after the first 1/2 bad performances.

Yes it was bad today, but we've had new managers have all summer (more than 8 weeks) and we've started new seasons very badly. Theres obviously zero patience on here given our position and the dire season to date, but to say he should go is laughable. He deserves a chance to form his own team and few windows to do so. If that means we're in the Championship then so be it. Hes inherited a weak squad low on confidence which could take a while to turnaround. Yes we all hoped for a much better start but the club (particularly given Ankersen's influence in appointing Jones) are not going to sack him and the supporters need to get behind him and the players (hopefully more than a few new ones in January). A toxic St Marys will around worsen the situation.

The idea that Nathan Jones has somehow earned the right to a "few windows" is the only laughable thing about this post......"and if we go down, so be it". Seriously, what the fuck? 

Jones was recruited to keep. us. up. 

That's the brief. That's it.

Not "have his own team in place for a few windows and if we go down so be it". Just utter garbage.

If we go down he's sacked. If he goes on like this he won't make Pancake Day.

There ain't no long term project happening right now. 

[Toussaint]

There would more justification for a Semmens out thread, he is totally responsible for the position we find ourselves in, he has presided over this whole decline. Moneyball is on him, sports republic is on him, the transfer window debacle is on him I could go on, and on, but I don’t want this to taint any more of my Christmas break.

[egg]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

And this is why sacking Ralph was not the answer so many were proclaiming. He polished a turd for many years and we will probably not realise what we had until a few months have gone.

Still way too early for these sort of threads though, but it does have a whiff of 'try and be clever on the cheap' about it, like we tried with the likes of Mara and co in the summer.

Ralph had stopped polishing the turd and we had to freshen things up. We just chose a worse manager.

The bloke is out of his depth for sure. His tactics are shocking. Team selections ditto. 

The only positive from today was the final whistle to end the misery. 

[Colinjb]

Cannot remember a more pessimistic feel around a manager then this. Even Poortvliet had some blind optimism. This just feels doomed. 

Just what has he been doing for five weeks!? 

Edited 26 December, 2022 by Colinjb

[Dragon_man]

8 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

The idea that Nathan Jones has somehow earned the right to a "few windows" is the only laughable thing about this post......"and if we go down, so be it". Seriously, what the fuck? 

Jones was recruited to keep. us. up. 

That's the brief. That's it.

Not "have his own team in place for a few windows and if we go down so be it". Just utter garbage.

If we go down he's sacked. If he goes on like this he won't make Pancake Day.

There ain't no long term project happening right now. 

I disagree, I think he's here's for a couple of seasons whether we like it or not. We will go down and SR will give him another season or two. They see him as a longer term prospect than just this season and TBH I think SR are relaxed about going down. I'd be surprised if we splash any notable cash in January. We'll make some big name sales next summer, acquire some more 'new talent' and start afresh in August.

Yes, its crap for fans. Is that SR's driver though? 

I don't really know enough about football economics, but I would have thought that relegation would be financially disastrous. But perhaps some SR accountant has worked out that relegation, parachute payments, offloading high wage players, winning more matches in the championship, promotion etc isn't so bad after all for their business model, probably still get 28-30k attendance ... who cares what the fans want? its not their club or business. Sad but true.

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

There would more justification for a Semmens out thread, he is totally responsible for the position we find ourselves in, he has presided over this whole decline. Moneyball is on him, sports republic is on him, the transfer window debacle is on him I could go on, and on, but I don’t want this to taint any more of my Christmas break.

How is Sports Republic on Semmens? Surely that's that Gao. Other than that, yep, Semmens has had a shocker and I'm staggered he didn't go with or before Ralph. 

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, Dragon_man said:

I disagree, I think he's here's for a couple of seasons whether we like it or not. We will go down and SR will give him another season or two. They see him as a longer term prospect than just this season and TBH I think SR are relaxed about going down. I'd be surprised if we splash any notable cash in January. We'll make some big name sales next summer, acquire some more 'new talent' and start afresh in August.

Yes, its crap for fans. Is that SR's driver though? 

I don't really know enough about football economics, but I would have thought that relegation would be financially disastrous. But perhaps some SR accountant has worked out that relegation, parachute payments, offloading high wage players, winning more matches in the championship, promotion etc isn't so bad after all for their business model, probably still get 28-30k attendance ... who cares what the fans want? its not their club or business. Sad but true.

why on earth will they give a manager more seasons when we will likely being appalling for over half a season?

No chance

[Barsiem]

I do think the reactions on here at OTT given Jones has only had 3 games in charge, and one of those was after 2 days and was Pool away, but this is undoubtedly a very concerning start.  Let's hope Jones is finding his feet in the PL ala Mane and things quickly pickup

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, Dragon_man said:

I disagree, I think he's here's for a couple of seasons whether we like it or not. We will go down and SR will give him another season or two. They see him as a longer term prospect than just this season and TBH I think SR are relaxed about going down. I'd be surprised if we splash any notable cash in January. We'll make some big name sales next summer, acquire some more 'new talent' and start afresh in August.

Yes, its crap for fans. Is that SR's driver though? 

I don't really know enough about football economics, but I would have thought that relegation would be financially disastrous. But perhaps some SR accountant has worked out that relegation, parachute payments, offloading high wage players, winning more matches in the championship, promotion etc isn't so bad after all for their business model, probably still get 28-30k attendance ... who cares what the fans want? its not their club or business. Sad but true.

You’re kidding right? Parachute payments are just there to try and mitigate the huge drop in revenue incurred from relegation and offset some of the disproportionately high wages. It’s not some bonus we get to cash in on, most of that will be gone on high earners we can’t offload.

There is nothing financially good about going down and I can’t imagine it’s part of some long term strategy either. We were a point from safety when SR pulled the trigger, an absolutely bat sh*t time to throw in the towel and bring in a ‘long term prospect to hopefully get promoted’ manager. 

[Toussaint]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

How is Sports Republic on Semmens? Surely that's that Gao. Other than that, yep, Semmens has had a shocker and I'm staggered he didn't go with or before Ralph. 

Pretty sure it was his role to find a buyer. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Toussaint said:

Pretty sure it was his role to find a buyer. 

He has said as such, many times

[captainchris]

51 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

It took Poch two games to give us an identity distinct from how we'd played under Adkins. That's what's so weird about the Jones appointment. His only reputation was for scrappy over-performance with the tools at hand. Not a sniff about him being a tactical innovator or someone with a particular footballing vision and intelligence.

And that's what this squad needs. Someone to literally re- teach them the basics of movement and passing, as they seem to have forgotten them completely. We play like statues waiting for the pass. Brighton on the other hand were constantly in motion, buzzing around making space for what were relatively simple passes.

 Very precise, unlike Jones who doesn’t grasp pass and move of that we can see with depressing ease.

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Pretty sure it was his role to find a buyer. 

Even if it was, it's Gao sold to them. Blaming Semmens for SR is a stretch. 

[Toussaint]

Just now, egg said:

Even if it was, it's Gao sold to them. Blaming Semmens for SR is a stretch. 

We’ll agree to differ on that one. 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

Even if it was, it's Gao sold to them. Blaming Semmens for SR is a stretch. 

Semmens said those running the club day to day had picked SR out from a number of potential buyers as the (not one of) recommendation to Gao, who was needing a way out.

Edited 26 December, 2022 by AlexLaw76

[Dark Munster]

35 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

There would more justification for a Semmens out thread, he is totally responsible for the position we find ourselves in, he has presided over this whole decline. Moneyball is on him, sports republic is on him, the transfer window debacle is on him I could go on, and on, but I don’t want this to taint any more of my Christmas break.

That f**ker hasn't been sacked yet?

Shit.

[hypochondriac]

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You’re kidding right? Parachute payments are just there to try and mitigate the huge drop in revenue incurred from relegation and offset some of the disproportionately high wages. It’s not some bonus we get to cash in on, most of that will be gone on high earners we can’t offload.

There is nothing financially good about going down and I can’t imagine it’s part of some long term strategy either. We were a point from safety when SR pulled the trigger, an absolutely bat sh*t time to throw in the towel and bring in a ‘long term prospect to hopefully get promoted’ manager. 

Exactly which is why we shouldn't have appointed Nathan Jones.